Paul Loeb: Most campuses are relatively quiet, with students inhabiting what a University of Wisconsin Green Bay student called “a bubble of insulation,” one that leaves crucial political debates barely visible in the distance.

I had help with this one. I watched Joe Biden and Sarah Palin square off, on CNN, specifically for that network’s audience meters. In this case, it was a group of undecided voters in Ohio, both men and women. What was revealing to me was how the audience reaction dovetailed with my own.

Wellness

Carole Bartolotto: The problem with concluding that GMOs are safe is that the argument for their safety rests solely on animal studies. These studies are offered as evidence that the debate over GMOs is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Environmentalism

Margo McCall: There’s increasing evidence that adopting a plant-based diet is better for human health, the planet, and of course for the more than 9 billion animals that are killed for consumption each year in the U.S alone.